Jonylah Watkins looked like a life-sized baby-doll. Her mother, Judy Watkins, picked a petal-pink coverall to lay her baby to rest. The dead baby was placed in a golden-edged beige casket that was slightly larger than an infant carrier. Her cheeks, unlike the sunken cheeks of the dead, still had the robust look of life.

“I want my baby back. I want my baby back,” the mother wailed inconsolably as hundreds of mourners filed past and gave the baby, nicknamed “Smooch,” a final good-bye.

The mourners began lining up hours before the funeral was set to start Tuesday at New Beginnings Church of Chicago at 66th and King Drive.

Close relatives wore pink and white. Most donned T-shirts painted with messages honoring Jonylah or pins bearing the baby’s smiling photograph. Tearful mothers hoisted the baby’s young cousins high on their hips. Grown men, their heads bowed, stood silently with damp eyes.

When the family finally left the church to bring Jonylah to her resting place, Mitchell noted that “Jonylah’s mother (with grandmother Judy Young) followed the tiny casket. Her father walked a few steps behind.”

Jonathan Watkins, surviving father of Jonylah Watkins; he and Jonylah were shot by the same street assassin, but he lived (Courtesy: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

What in the world does he think? Jonathan looked more than just physically wounded. He looked waterlogged from this immense tragedy. Is he really cooperating in full in order to bring the murderers of his daughter to justice?

Another view of Jonylah Watkins’ funeral program beside a mourner (Courtesy: Daily Mail)

I just hope Jonathan makes some concrete decisions soon that will impact his life and that of his wife, decisions that he could have made long ago that might have saved that little baby’s life. His treasure. If this isn’t a big hint from the Universe that it is time to move away from thug life, I don’t know what is.

Dear Editor: On Nov. 28, in response to the election, 35 mayors from progressive cities in both blue and red states signed an open letter to President-elect Donald Trump. They asked for leadership on climate change issues, but promised to…

Playground slides sold to municipalities and schools are being recalled because of a defect that can cause a finger amputation. Other recalled consumer products this week include potentially moldy gift boxes and defective windows.

A DeKalb County judge Friday vacated the conviction of Jack McCullough, who was found guilty in 2012 of the 1957 murder of a 7-year-old Sycamore girl. Judge William Brady ordered a new trial for McCullough and also ordered that he be freed from custody on his own recognizance. The hearing was held...

A judge on Friday refused to reduce the $500,000 bond set for two Wisconsin girls accused of trying to kill their classmate in an attempt to please the fictional horror character Slender Man. Judge Michael Bohren denied requests by the girls' attorneys to lower the bond amount. The girls have been...

By signing off on a plan to move the museum east of Lake Shore Drive, parks advocates would be trampling on the very principle they used to block the museum.Does Mayor Rahm Emanuel want to tear down the McCormick Place East building to make way for the controversial Lucas Museum of Narrative Art?...

As they gathered at the crime tape, looking down at the body of their son under a white sheet, Raymond and Charisma Pryor were taken off to the side by police and told he was the target of a gang conflict.But all they could see was a man gunned down as he was straightening out his life, going to...

As a kid, Jonathan Toews threw the worst sleepovers. Just ask Tyler Riel, a friend who went over to Toews' house one night on the southern end of Winnipeg. Riel, then 11, was expecting the usual trappings of a night with buddies — video games, junk food and hockey on the rink Toews' dad Brian built....

A reward of up to $5,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest of an Oak Lawn man charged in the burning and killing a teenage boy on Chicago's Southwest Side in 2009, the FBI said Friday morning. Luis Macedo, 28, whose last known address is in the 6200 block of West 90th Place,...

The parents of a north suburban Muslim family abruptly removed from a United Airlines flight last month say the way they and their three children were treated by a flight crew at Chicago O'Hare International Airport went way beyond poor customer service. Yet three weeks later, they still have not...

Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants to tear down McCormick Place East to create a lakefront parcel for Star Wars filmmaker George Lucas' art museum in an effort to prevent Lucas from taking the project to another city, a source close to the mayoral administration said Friday. The source confirmed the mayor's...

There are tons of obvious holiday traditions played out throughout households in the River Parishes each December. There is Christmas tree shopping, cookie decorating, Christmas caroling. But one Luling family makes pies. "Poppy" to his grandchildren, Barry Minnich gathers the...

An East St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours was sponsored by the Northshore Harbor Center on Nov. 17. Members mingled and exchanged information about their businesses and events around town. The East St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce is...

Westbank Business and Industry Association (WBIA) President Charlie Frederick and its members joined Gretna Mayor Belinda Constant in welcoming French America Line to Gretna and metropolitan New Orleans in a November luncheon. The line will be offering a "Deluxe Voyage" out of the...

• Figure revealed in Professor Richard McLaren’s second report into doping• ‘London Games corrupted on an unprecedented scale,’ says McLarenThe London 2012 Olympics were “corrupted on an unprecedented scale” by Russia’s government and sports authorities, who colluded to ensure its sports stars were able to take a cocktail of banned performance-enhancing drug […]

President’s decision to have US intelligence agencies look over evidence comes after unrelenting pressure from Democratic lawmakers to declassify informationBarack Obama has ordered US intelligence to review evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election after coming under sustained pressure from congressional Democrats.The review will be […]

Italian government may have to prop up world’s oldest bank as recapitalisation deal faltersFears that the Italian government will have to prop up Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) are mounting after the European Central Bank refused to give the world’s oldest bank more time to find major investors to back a €5bn (£4.2bn) cash injection.Trading in the troubled […]

Incumbent John Mahama concedes defeat after opponent wins 53.8% of vote Ghana’s main opposition leader Nana Akufo-Addo has won the presidency in his third run for the office.State broadcaster Ghana Television said on Friday that the president, John Mahama, had conceded defeat in a telephone call that Akufo-Addo confirmed soon after. Continue reading...

Officials believe penguins were sent into panic at zoo which has seen several other accidents including an otter who died after becoming entangled in trousersA Canadian zoo has launched an investigation into the deaths of seven penguins at the facility, which are believed to have drowned in a state of panic. “It was obviously something we did not expect to f […]

Video recording of Roof saying ‘I killed them’ while laughing is shown for the first time at death penalty trial for June 2015 murders of nine peopleDylann Roof hesitated for about 20 seconds when an FBI agent asked him what he was doing on the night nine black church members were killed during Bible study in Charleston, South Carolina.“Uh, I did it,” Roof s […]

Park fights for her political life amid scandal that has made her country’s least popular leader since it became democraticThe South Korean president, Park Geun-hye, is fighting for her political life after MPs on Friday voted by a huge margin to impeach her over a corruption and cronyism scandal that has made her the country’s most unpopular leader since it […]

Boko Haram blamed for blasts which struck at opposite ends of food market and left dozens dead and 67 people woundedTwo women carried out suicide bombings at a bustling market in the north-east Nigerian town of Madagali on Friday morning, killing at least 30 people and wounding 67, the army said.The attack came as the Nigerian government claimed it was routi […]